Subject:Man Puts $12,000 Engagement Ring In Balloon And Then Watches It Float Away

Lefkos Hajji had the perfect, most romantic idea for proposing to the woman he hoped would be his wife. The 28-year-old London, England floor fitter went to a lot of trouble and expense to arrange one of the most elaborate marriage pleas in history, one he wanted his betrothed to remember for the rest of their lives together.

And you can be sure the 26-year-old object of his affections, a woman named Leanne, certainly will.

Hajji spent Cdn$12,000 on a very expensive and impressive engagement ring and decided it would be unique if he hid it inside a balloon filled with helium. The idea: get Leanne to pop the balloon once he popped the question.

But as the luckless love struck young man left the store where he bought the lighter-than-air item, a sudden gust of wind sent the container out of his hand and heading for the sky, where it blew away and floated to parts unknown. He was stunned by the sudden turn of fortune, as he saw his investment literally disappear into thin air.

"I just watched as it went further and further," he told the Sun newspaper. "I felt like such a plonker. It cost a fortune and I knew my girlfriend would kill me."

He ran to his car and tried to track the airborne diamond, but he couldn't keep up with it. After two hours of watching the skies, he was forced to give up.

The distraught would-be fiance then went to tell his girlfriend what happened. And it appears she's not happy either. "She went absolutely mad," he relates. "Now she is refusing to speak to me until I get her a new ring."

He's hoping it turns up when the helium runs out and the blown-up container finally lands somewhere.

There's no word on whether his love will forgive him for this huge faux pas, but some are wondering if Hajji might want to reconsider his proposal, given the reaction to the accident and the anger that's ballooned from it.

Lefkos Hajji had the perfect, most romantic idea for proposing to the woman he hoped would be his wife. The 28-year-old London, England floor fitter went to a lot of trouble and expense to arrange one of the most elaborate marriage pleas in history, one he wanted his betrothed to remember for the rest of their lives together.

And you can be sure the 26-year-old object of his affections, a woman named Leanne, certainly will.

Hajji spent Cdn$12,000 on a very expensive and impressive engagement ring and decided it would be unique if he hid it inside a balloon filled with helium. The idea: get Leanne to pop the balloon once he popped the question.

But as the luckless love struck young man left the store where he bought the lighter-than-air item, a sudden gust of wind sent the container out of his hand and heading for the sky, where it blew away and floated to parts unknown. He was stunned by the sudden turn of fortune, as he saw his investment literally disappear into thin air.

"I just watched as it went further and further," he told the Sun newspaper. "I felt like such a plonker. It cost a fortune and I knew my girlfriend would kill me."

He ran to his car and tried to track the airborne diamond, but he couldn't keep up with it. After two hours of watching the skies, he was forced to give up.

The distraught would-be fiance then went to tell his girlfriend what happened. And it appears she's not happy either. "She went absolutely mad," he relates. "Now she is refusing to speak to me until I get her a new ring."

He's hoping it turns up when the helium runs out and the blown-up container finally lands somewhere.

There's no word on whether his love will forgive him for this huge faux pas, but some are wondering if Hajji might want to reconsider his proposal, given the reaction to the accident and the anger that's ballooned from it.